Behavior Changes and Side Effects in LSD Users Essay -- Hallucinogens

Behavior Changes and Side Effects in LSD Users In 1938, Albert Hofmann created lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD- 25) at Sandoz pharmaceutical laboratories in Basel, Switzerland. It was initially created to aid as a circulatory and respiratory stimulant, and it was discovered to stimulate contraction of the uterus. In 1943, it was unintentionally absorbed into Hofmann's skin, and he discovered that it was an extremely potent hallucinogen. Although a true hallucinogen is when a person sees or hears something (without sensory cues) that does not exist, and believes that the perceptions are real, LSD is considered a hallucinogen which merely alters the perception of existing sensory stimuli while most users are aware that their distorted perception is caused by the drug, (Henderson, 37, 45). LSD temporarily alters an individual's normal mode of perception, reasoning, memory, thoughts, and feelings, while producing a flood of intensified sensations. Colors, sounds, and visual imagery become more intense, subjective time is altered, and visual illusions including perceived movement of stationary objects are experienced. "The primary emotional response may be of euphoria and contentment, or less often a side effect of confusion, fear, anxiety, and despair" may result, (Henderson, 2). "Hallucinogens have been used for centuries by various people often in sacred rituals (Henderson, 37). LSD's most profound psychic effect, the sense of contacting some profound universal truth, cosmic consciousness, or transpersonal state, often described as feeling that the mind is transcending the boundaries of the individual self, with space, time, and identity all disarranged, is often the motivation f... ...e oxidase inhibitors or lithium. Behavioral Brain Research, Vol. 73, Issues 1 and 2, p. 229-233, (1995). Daw, Jennifer. Why and how normal people go mad. American Psychological Association, Vol. 33, No. 10 (November 2002). Halpern, J.H., and Pope, H.G., Jr. Do hallucinogens cause residual neuropsychological toxicity? Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Vol. 53: p. 247-256, (1999). Henderson, L.A. and Glass, W.J. LSD: Still With Us After All These Years. New York: Lexington Books, 1994. Kalat, J.W. Biological Psychology. Canada: Wadsworth a division of Thomson Learning Inc., 2004. Ungerleider, J.T., M.D. The Problems and Prospects of LSD. Illinois: Charles C. Thomas Publisher, 1968. www.drugabuse.com; NIDA Research Report Series: "Why do people take hallucinogens?" www.streetdrugs.org/lsd.htm www.usdoj.gov/dea www.usdoj.gov/ndic